Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 40GB SSD Single & RAID Review

Much like the graphics card arena, the SSD market seems to prefer giving the big “flagship” 120GB+ Solid State Drives most of the limelight. However, their smaller brethren are the products which most people opt for. So while the amazingly expensive high performance, large capacity drives are great for eye candy, most of the interest lies in more affordable alternatives.

Today we are going to be looking at yet another entry-level Solid State Drive powered by SandForce but from a manufacturer we haven’t seen much of lately: Mushkin. Their new Callisto Deluxe series caters to an entry level market but still aims to give end users the performance they expect from an SSD.

Mushkin is certainly no stranger to the enthusiast community as they made quiet the name for themselves with their Redline, Blackline and numerous other enthusiast grade memory lines. While they may have stumbled a bit in North America over the last year or two, they are back in full swing and trying to expand their area of influence into the SSD market. This just happens to be the same market they were unable to really break into the forgettable “Io” series and the original (firmware hobbled) “Callisto”. Well as the old saying goes, “third time is a charm” as it looks like the DELUXE version of the Callisto line is about to make some waves.

In this review we won’t be looking at the bleeding edge of the Callisto Deluxe lineup even though these drives are available with capacities up to 240GB. Rather, the highly affordable 40GB version will be the star of the show.

On first glance, a price of a mere $90 should make anyone sit up and take notice because this significantly undercutsmost of the Callisto’s competition. A low price combined with Mushkin’s enviable customer service reputation may just be the perfect combination that woos many consumers away from the firmly entrenched SandForce drives on the market. They certainly got the price point down pat, but let’s see what else Mushkin has done to help their newest drive stand out in a highly saturated market.